Method of and means for making roofing material.



PATENTED JAN. 7, 1908.

F. G. OVERBURY. METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING ROOFING MATERIAL.

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APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK C. OVERBURY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO FLINTKOTE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING ROOFING MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 7, 1908.

Application filed May 26. 1906. Serial No. 318.903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK C. OVER- BURY, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Methods of and Means for l\' aking Roofing Material, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to method of and means for making roofing and similar materials. Such materials are usually formed of a body of-fibrous material preferably wool-felt, which is repared in a long strip and then drawn tlirough a body of water-proofin compound having as its base asphaltum, pitch or other e uivalent substance. The sheet or strip, tius treated, is subsequently wound upon a reel.

The object of the present invention is to increase the roduction of roofing or similar material am to reduce the cost of manufacture. In arriving at this end, I employ a strip of fabric or'fibrous material, preferably felt, which is at least twice as wide as the strip which has previously been used; then, by a suitable instrumentality, I form in the longitudinal median line of the strip a weakening line, which divides the strip into two separable portions. After the fabric has been suitably treated with thewater-proofing compound, the two halves of the strip are separated and are wound upon separate reels. The movement of the fabric through the tank of water-proofing compound is necessarily slow in order to permit th compound to thoroughly impregnate the fabric, and consequently, in accordance with my invention, I may accomplish in a given time the impregnation of double the amount of material that has previously been possible.

The invention is applicable for various kinds of flooring and roofing material, including those which are coated with sand, flint, gravel or the like, since the line of perforations or the weakening line makes it possible to separate the two halves of the sheet without difficulty.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:l igure illustrates conventionally and in section an apparatus which embodies the invention and which may be utilized in carrying out my process. Fig. 2 represents a Ian view of the same.

eferring to the said drawings,'a re resents a reel or beam carrying the rol of y tially severing one wide fabric or fibrous material e, which, as stated, is double in width that ordinarily used. The sheet or strip is drawn from the said beam through a tank I) which contains the waterproofing com ound, which compound, as previously state may be of asphaltum, tar, pitch, or other suitable material. The

. sheet or stri passes over a roller b to the bottom of tie tank; thence under rollers b b which are immersed in the water-proofing compound; thence upward between the traction or squeeze rolls a c c to a pair of rolls indicated at d d, and journaled in a standard d These parts are all illustrated conventionally and it will be understood that proper power-transmitting devices may be utilized to drive all or any of the rolls as may be required.

Located preferably between the beam a and the roll I) is an instrumentality for forming a weakenin line in the strip 0, in the median longitudinal line thereof. This instrumentality in the embodiment of the invention which I have illustrated comprises an awl or punching tool f and a slotted base plate f, but it may be a scoring or grooving device. When the punch or awl is used by any suitable mechanism not shown, the punch or awl is rapidly reciprocated so that, as the sheet or strip is drawn underneath, a number of holes, all close together, are formed therein; thus the sheet, prior'to its being treated, is so weakened along its median line that the two halves may be subsequently separated. The separation of the two halves is accomplished by attaching the ends of the said halves to reels or'beams g g respectively journaled on a standard 9 These reels are rotated by any suitable means with sufficient power so that, as the strip leaves the bite of the rows (1 d, the two halves are torn apart and separated and wound upon said reels. One of the advantages resulting from forming a weakening line in the fibrous strip instead of completely severing it before treatlment is that if entirely separate strips were [run through the apparatus edge to edge, {there would be liable to be such uneven running of the separate strips as would cause the rollers to buckle one strip while the next one would be running strai ht.

slieet or strip, that is weakening it, the entire sheet goes through the apparatus as one solid sheet which can afterwards be easily separated or split. If

By only parentirely separate strips were run through the apparatus but with some kind of guide pins or disks mounted so that the sheets would run on opposite sides thereof, several objections would exist. First, it would be necessary to thread the separate sheets through the machine separately and adjust with the Specific instrumentality illustrated it is easier to form the weakening line prior to the saturation and impregnation of the fabric or fibrous material with the waterproofing compound.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention, and described a way of constructing and using the same, although without, attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made, or all of the modes of its use, I declare that what I claim is 1. The herein described method of making material such as described, which consists in providin a strip of fibrous material of abnormal wi th, forming a weakening line in said fibrous material, saturating or impregnating said fibrous material with waterproofing compound, separating the two halves of the said strip along the said weakened line, and independently accumulating said halves in marketable masses.

2. The herein described method of making material such as described, which consists in providing a strip of fibrous material of abnormal Width, saturating or impregnating said material with the water-proofmg compound, separating said strip alon its central longitudinal line into two in ependent strips, and winding said independent strips into separate rolls.

3. The herein described process of manufacturing materials such as described, which consists in the steps in the order named, to wit,providing a sheet of fibrous material ofabnormal width, forming a weakening line longitudinally of the said strip, treating the said strip with a water-proofing compound, dividing said strip alon the weakening line, and winding the divide portions of the strip into separate rolls, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a reel for a roll of fibrous material of abnormal width, a tank for containing water-proofing com pound 'means for forming a weakening line longitudinally of said strip, and instrument-alities for separating said strip along said weakening line into two separate narrow strips and separately coiling them.

5. The herein described method of making material such as described, which consists of providing a strip of fibrous material of abnormal width, treating said strip with a Water-proofing conlpound, forming in said strip a weakening line to permit said strip to be separated into two strips each of normal width, and progressively severing the material along said weakened line and simultaneously coiling up the two strips.

6. The herein described method of making roofing, consisting in providing an elongated sheet of fibrous material of abnormal width, treating said sheet with water-proofing compound, subsequently dividing said sheet longitudinally into two sheets of normal width,

and independently accumulating said divisionsin marketable masses.

'7. The combination of a beam for a roll of fibrous material of abnormal width, a tank for the water-proofing compound, means for splitting said sheet longitudinally into two separate sheets ofnormal width, and means for independently accumulating said sheets in marketable masses;

8. The herein described method of making material such as described, which consists in providing a strip of fibrous material of abnormal width, forming a weakening line-in said fibrous material, saturating or impregnating said fibrous materialwith water-proofing compound'after the weakening line has been formed, separating the two halves of the said strip along the said weakened line, and independentlyaccumulating said halves in marketable masses.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK C- OVERBURY.

Witnesses:

' OTTo J. STRAssER,

BERTHA E. STETLER. 

